He looked normal, nothing wrong or different from usual.
“Please sit down. I’ve been reading for quite a while and I’m feeling a bit bored.” He Yanxiu turned a page of the book.
“Yes.” Su Yujin sat down.
Ai Cao brought Su Yujin’s breakfast over.
A bowl of chicken noodle soup with some shredded chicken on top and a few refreshing side dishes.
The soup was fresh and delicious, and the noodles were chewy, tasty, and very thin. There was also a poached egg and some spinach inside.
Su Yujin’s appetite was aroused, but her stomach was empty at the moment, so she ate everything.
After eating a bowl of noodles, Su Yujin burped slightly and felt extremely satisfied.
Ai Cao came to clean up the dishes, added hot tea to He Yanxiu, and brought a bowl of bird’s nest to Su Yujin.
The bird’s nest was boiled with the one that Zhou Li Shi gave her last time. Rock sugar and lotus seeds were added to it. It tasted refreshing and slightly sweet.
“Everything was fine, why do you suddenly stew this and eat it?” Su Yujin didn’t usually take too many tonics.
“Mother Liu said that the girl has been tired recently, so she stewed a bowl for her to replenish her body.” Ai Cao replied.
He Yanxiu, “…”
Did he make such a big noise last night?
But it was okay this way.
He could see that Su Yujin wanted to live a carefree life in the future, but Ai Cao and Mother Liu only hoped that Su Yujin could enter the He family and become a proper concubine.
In the eyes of Ai Cao and Mother Liu, his farce last night showed his love for Su Yujin. They would feel at ease in the future and would be more dedicated to Su Yujin.
Su Yujin didn’t think too much about it. She just thought that Mother Liu cooked all these because she felt that she was too busy before and after the New Year and was worried about her health. She just said “hmm” and lowered her head to drink the bird’s nest bowl.
Because He Yanxiu no longer needed acupuncture treatment these days, in addition to instructing Ai Cao and Liu Mama to help He Yanxiu boil the medicine for three meals a day, all Su Yujin needed to do was prepare various foods for He Yanxiu.
What about red bean paste rolls, tuckahoe cakes, crystal water chestnut cakes, pearl dumplings, honey plum glutinous rice cakes, almond peanut juice, candied apples, and snow mountain plums…
Crispy duck, stuffed green pepper, crystal pumpkin, roast chicken with ginkgo nuts, ants climbing a tree, Dongpo pork, hawthorn dried meat, sesame oil chicken, crystal pork elbow, steamed green eel…
He Yanxiu left for the capital on the fourth day of the New Year.
On the 8th and 15th day of the first lunar month, he came twice again because of acupuncture.
And each of the times, he stayed for two days.
On the seventeenth, He Yanxiu prepared to leave.
Xing’an helped him get dressed in the morning, frowning and saying, “Second Master, your belt is a bit short. When we return to the capital, I will ask the embroiderer at home to make a few new ones for you.”
He Yanxiu, “…”
It seemed that some things should be done in moderation.
“Have you arranged everything I asked you to do?” He Yanxiu asked.
“Don’t worry, Second Master. Everything has been arranged. We are all smart. It has been several days and Miss Su didn’t notice it.” Xing’an replied.
“Yeah.” He Yanxiu nodded.
“Second Master.” Su Yujin lifted the curtain and entered the room. “This is a new prescription. You should still boil and take it three times a day after you go back. Inside is the radish cake that I made these past two days. Although the name is a bit rustic, it tastes good. Second Master, take it and eat it on the way.”
“Okay.” He Yanxiu asked Xing’an to take the things and took out a banknote from his sleeve. “Take this.”
Su Yujin took it.
It was a silver note with a face value of five hundred taels.
“Second Master, this is…”
This time the banknotes are bigger than usual.
Su Yujin felt a little uneasy after receiving it.
“Before, you wanted to buy a few acres of land and grow some vegetables, mushrooms, etc. This is my share. If the vegetables you grow and the chickens and ducks you raise are good, you can make some dishes for me to taste.”
“Thank you, Second Master!”
It turned out it was for the sake of satisfying one’s appetite.
But it was expected.
He Yanxiu’s condition had recovered well in recent days. Although the tastes he tasted were still not as strong as those of ordinary people, they were light, but he could taste all five flavors and was getting closer and closer to a normal person.
The more flavors he tasted, the more greedy He Yanxiu became as if he wanted to make up for all that he had missed before.
This was an act of revenge, and Su Yujin expressed her understanding.
Seeing Su Yujin so happy, He Yanxiu curled the corners of his lips.
Xing’an, however, looked worried. On the way back to the capital, he couldn’t help but say to He Yanxiu, “Second Master, there isn’t much money left in your private vault.”
Every time he came to Qinghe, he would spend hundreds of taels of silver. This time he was even more generous. Adding this to his daily expenses, his wallet was indeed shrinking day by day.
He Yanxiu frowned, “The income from my shops and farms shouldn’t be that small.”
“There were a lot of them originally, but the Second Master had already loaned them out.”
Xing’an counted on his fingers, “Young Master Lu has two thousand taels, Young Master Zou has five hundred taels, and Young Master Ge has three thousand taels…”
Listening to Xing’an’s long chatter, He Yanxiu held his forehead and pondered for a long time, then said, “Make a list and visit them one by one in the next two days.”
Debt collection!
The corner of Xing’an’s mouth twitched.
In the past, the Second Master was generous and lent a lot of money without asking any questions. He urged him several times but to no avail. Now, the Second Master was willing to take the initiative to mention the debt collection.
It turned out that only people who worried about whether their wallets were full or not when they had a place to use their money.
Xing’an felt immediately relieved.
But……
The purpose of the Second Master asking for the money back was to reward Miss Su.
If you can’t keep it warm in your pocket, you’ll spend it!
Xing’an, “…”
Suddenly he was a little worried about the financial situation of the Second Master in the future!
——
The Capital, Lu Family
“I have made some new snacks these days. I brought them to you specially because I remembered that you like them the most. Can you try them? Do you like them?” Yan Siying smiled and took out plates of snacks from the food box brought by the maid beside her and placed them on the table in front of Lu Wenjing.
Méihuā bǐng
, huāshēng sū
, liánhuā juǎn
, ǒufěnguì
, and huāgāo
.
Indeed, they were all what Lu Wenjing generally liked.
Lu Wenjing’s eyes lit up, and she just took the lotus roll and stuffed it into her mouth, “Thank you, Sister Ying.”
“Between you and me, there’s no need to thank me.” Yan Siying’s eyes turned into crescents as she smiled. “Just because you like it, I’ll bring it to you often in the future as long as you like it.”
“Okay.” Lu Wenjing nodded vigorously and ate another piece of peanut crisp.
She had to say, that Yan Siying’s cooking skills were really impeccable. Each of these pastries tasted delicious.
However, no matter how delicious they were, they were all sweet after all. For a martial artist like her, they were somewhat not satisfying enough.
The feeling of shortcomings was hard to describe.
Lu Wenjing suddenly recalled that extremely cold night, and how satisfying it was to eat that pot of braised lamb ribs.
He Yanxiu: It’s time to collect the debt!
Everyone: You are aloof, you are great, you are in love and force us!
(End of this chapter)

Leave a comment